


We Live Together

by UndieGirl



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, canonish, zouis friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 03:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13672980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndieGirl/pseuds/UndieGirl
Summary: Prompt from blasphemousprophet: Louis and Niall have been casual friends with benefits for years. Now that Niall's going on a world tour, Louis realizes he's in love and wants some kind of commitment from a seemingly oblivious Niall. So lots of mutual pining.





	We Live Together

**Author's Note:**

> This story is for the 1D-For-Old's Galentine's fic! blasphemousprophet asked to avoid IRL families so while this story is sort of canon compliant it also doesn't really deal with anything happening in their personal lives. She also didn't ask for the Zouis friendship but I needed someone for Louis to talk to about Niall and honestly you can pry Zouis from my cold dead hands!

 

**_Louis_**

 

The thing with Niall, it works. It works really well. The sex is great, Niall’s so laid back that there’s no drama even when Louis wants drama. It’s casual, convenient and it’s working. It’s working really fucking well until Louis realises he’s been living in Niall’s house for a month. 

“This is not ‘ _a little bit untidy’_ you’re a fucking slob Tommo,” Niall shouts as he tosses Louis’ towel out of the bathroom.

Louis is not a morning person or a night person, he’s a sleep person really and he’s not had enough to deal with this fight again. He drags himself out of bed groaning as loudly and dramatically as he can, ignoring the laughter wafting in from the bathroom. He picks the towel of the floor and tosses it at the laundry basket, a little bit proud when it lands in without any trouble. He schools his smile into a pout before he turns to face Niall. 

“Pick it up to start with mate and we wouldn’t have a problem,” says Niall wandering from the bathroom wearing nothing but the towel loosely draped around his waist. 

Instead of answering Louis flops back onto the mattress and buries his head under the duvet partially to avoid seeing the moisture dripped from the hair on Niall’s chest but mostly because he’s really fucking tired. 

“When’re you leaving?” says Louis his voice muffled in the bedcovers. 

“Could ask you the same question,” Niall and it’s a joke but it’s one that hits a little too close to home.

They’ve had the same conversation before, of course they have. It always ends with them messing up Niall’s perfectly made bed and Louis not leaving. Sex is a pretty good way to avoid dealing with anything but now Niall’s leaving to go on tour, not for a couple of weeks but for months, and Louis is still in his house. It’s kind of impossible to ignore that he’s basically living at Niall’s house. 

“You almost ate fries last night Neil, FRIES! You can’t have fries. Can’t be trusted on your own obviously.”

“They were your fries!” Niall yells. 

And yeah, okay they were Louis fries that he’d order in the middle of the night after arriving home, back to Niall’s place, off his face. When Niall had tried to take one Louis had grabbed it back and stuffed the rest of the fries into his mouth all at once. Niall didn’t think that was funny but he did laugh when Louis was vomiting them back up five minutes later. Little shit. 

“I don’t have a funny tummy like you yeah,” says Louis trying for contrite. 

Niall’s face softens before breaking into a wide smile, “your tummy was pretty funny last night mate.” 

“Fuck off,” Louis shouts tossing a pillow at Niall crying mercy when Niall jumps on top of him in retaliation. 

Niall’s a terrible roommate, Louis thinks. He’s an absolute clean freak and honestly Louis can’t keep up with. Louis can’t believe he lives with him. He can’t believe he likes living with him. Louis also cannot believe he’s making the bed after he gets up because he knows Niall gets annoyed when he doesn’t. 

 

**_Niall_**

 

Louis is still in Niall’s house and Niall doesn’t know what to do. It’s is not completely unusual for Louis to be in his house, but the difference is that Niall isn’t there. Niall’s on the other side of the world and Louis is in his house texting him about being out a toilet paper. Niall should be having the time of his life, he is having the time of his life, so why did it bother him so much that Louis was at his house in his bed like a bloody board housewife waiting for him to come home. 

It’s icing on the cake of a crazy situation when the next text Louis sends after the toilet paper request is a picture of his dick. Because of course he does. Niall doesn’t know how he ended up here but he begs off an after show party so he can go back to his hotel room and call Louis. 

“Hey,” he says trying to sound sultry but he’s not sure it’s working. He’s lying on the bed in with his pants round his ankles, holding the phone above his head for Facetime thinking about angling the camera down to show Louis what he’s missing. 

But Louis is not in bed. Louis is somewhere with fluorescent lighting and loudspeaker announcements and walls of detergent.  

“Where the fuck?” asks Niall pulling his pants up quickly like someone walked in uninvited.

“I’m getting toilet paper,” says Louis. “Someone didn’t leave me any. You’re a shit host by the way.” 

Niall doesn’t say that he wasn’t expecting anyone to be there while he was away because he’s still a little confused about how this conversation went from potential phone sex to some kind of shopping list.

“For fuck sake why did you send me a dick pic from the supermarket?” asks Niall

“You wouldn’t answer my toilet paper question.” 

Niall rubs his hand over his head in frustration. He cannot believe this is his life. 

“Get that environmental stuff,” he says.  

Louis doesn’t. He buys something with some gaudy pattern on it that Niall doesn’t want anywhere near his ass. He wants to be mad, wants to tell Louis to get himself that awful toilet paper out of his house. But it’s nice isn’t it? Talking to Louis, listening to him complain about some fight he had with the label people, hearing him gush about a song he’d been working on. It’s nice and by the end of the conversation Niall’s starting to think maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have someone to come home to. 

 

**_Louis_ **

 

Louis is not there when Niall gets home. He had plan and it was a great fucking plan, but then Louis had to go and realise that his plan didn’t involve sex. It was almost as though their relationship wasn’t about sex. Actually it was exactly that and Louis didn’t know how to deal with it. He likes the way Niall folded their clothes before they got into bed sometimes. His attempts at cooking. He likes hearing the sound of his guitar coming from every room in the house like a map to where Louis can find him. He likes Niall. 

And once the idea is out there, it is out there. Louis is no good at ignoring shit he should really ignore. He's never let anything go in his entire life, he treats grudges like they're his children. He likes to poke at his problems with a stick until they start bleeding all over the place. When he realises he like Niall, Louis wants to poke it, but he’s also fairly sure that’s a bad instinct so he pokes something else as a distraction. 

“Louis what? Why’re you callin?” Zayn says when he answers the phone at three AM, which Louis thinks is a total rookie move. 

“I think I’m living with Niall,” says Louis. 

“We’re not friends Louis,” says Zayn. “You’re the one that said we were not friends.” 

“I don’t remember moving in,” continues Louis ignoring Zayn. “Is it possible to move in with someone without noticing?” 

Zayn sighs, “when you made me send that apology basket I sent to Niall’s house so yeah I think you’re living there.” 

“I didn’t make you send an apology basket. I just said that if you were really sorry you would send a basket or something.” 

“Whatever Louis it’s three AM.” 

“We are also having sex. Just so you know. It’s supposed to be casual yeah? Casual sex friends don’t live together though.” 

“I don’t want to be involved in this,” says Zayn. 

“Shouldn’t have answered your phone then yeah.”  

“I’m gonna call Niall.” 

“Since when are you and Niall talking!” Louis says a little ashamed by how put out he sounds. 

“Since 2010,” replies Zayn not bothered by Louis tone. “I’m going to sleep.”

A fucking useless phone call that solved nothing and Louis still hated Zayn, even if the basket he sent was lovely. Okay maybe calling Niall was not the worst idea. But when Louis realised he was making plans that didn’t involve sex he also realised that Niall only really seemed to call him when he wanted sex. So instead of talking to Niall and risking a really awkward rejection that was bound to ruin their friendship, Louis chooses to run away. 

Louis lasted two days in his house, which hates, before he was back in Niall’s bed. He uses all kinds of excuses to justify himself. He’s board, Niall’s hot on stage, Louis is fucking horny and he hasn’t had sex in months. But as he lay next to Niall unable to sleep all of his excuses felt pointless. Louis was in love with Niall and he didn’t know what to do about it. 

“Have you thought about dating?” Louis asks, on the couch in Niall’s living room. He’s trying to get Niall into _Peaky Blinders_ but he keeps getting distracted. 

“Dating? No,” Niall replies still focused on the telly.  

“Don’t fancy anyone then?” Louis keeps poking. 

Niall’s attention is officially diverted and he’s looking at Louis like he’s said something offensive. “Quite fancy Cillian Murphy, should I get his number from Harry then?” 

Louis laughs, not because it’s particularly funny but he doesn’t know what else to do and laughter seems to ease the worry around Niall’s eyes. Louis fucking loves him. He loves him and he doesn’t know what to do. 

 

**_Niall_**

 

He misses Louis. That’s a weird thing to admit but he can’t pretend he doesn’t anymore. He misses talking to Louis. He misses being around Louis. He misses picking up Louis clothes off the floor of his bathroom ever single bloody morning. 

Niall had been looking forward to being back in his house. It’s been a while since he had a real home and it kind struck him in the gut when he realised it wasn’t the house he was looking forward to seeing. It was Louis. It was weird but it made sense so Niall didn’t question it. He didn’t push it either, he didn’t feel the need. He figure it would all fall into place eventually. 

Then Louis wasn’t there when he got home and the questions had started coming even though Niall didn’t want to answer them. Niall didn’t like questions. He liked to take things as they came. If something was going to happen it would happen. Niall could wait, unfortunately he was also pretty sure Louis couldn’t.

“Wanna come out for another show?” asks Niall on the last night they’re together.  

Louis stares at him like he’s lost his mind, “That’s fucking ridiculous Niall what are you on about?”

“It’s only a show,” says Niall sighing at Louis overreaction, this was going to be harder than he thought. “We’re mates, it’s not weird.”

“We’re mates yeah,” says Louis looking angrier than Niall thinks is warranted. “ _Mates_ don’t fly across the country to see each other. It is weird.”

“So we’re not mates then,” says Niall finding the strength to push things a little hoping it doesn’t push Louis away. “You should still come to a show.” 

“I can’t do that,” says Louis a little wistfully, Niall thinks that maybe he wishes he could. “Can’t cause a media storm just so you can see my dick. I know, it’s a fucking great dick but it ain’t worth it lad.” 

It’s worth it, thinks Niall. Not his dick, although maybe, but seeing Louis. That would be worth it. Niall doesn’t know how to convince Louis of that. Niall thought they were on the same page. He thought they were moving in the same direction. He figured they’d keep going the way they were and eventually what they were would be something else. He should have known Louis wouldn’t let it be that easy. 

He sends Louis a plane ticket a couple of weeks later. He knows Louis has a few days off, knows he’s bored and he tries not to take it personally when Louis doesn’t show up. It’s a long shot anyway. 

 

**_Louis_**

 

“You’re not listening Zayn,” says Louis elongating the name into two very distinct syllables. 

“I want to sleep,” replies Zayn. 

“Just answer the fucking question.” 

“You like him,” says Zayn. 

“I love him keep up,” says Louis.

“Niall hasn’t invited me to fly out to see him,” says Zayn. 

“He doesn’t like you.”

Zayn groans, again, which Louis though was fucking rude to be honest.  

“He hasn’t invited me out because it would be a big deal and it’s not worth the trouble,” says Zayn. 

“That’s what I said,” Louis cries validated finally. 

“Louis you are an idiot.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“He invited you anyway.”

“Is he trying to get some publicity?” asks Louis.

“Maybe he just wanted to see you Louis,” Zayn says. 

“I maybe fucked up,” says Louis thinking of the ticket he’d left on the kitchen table.

“Probably,” says Zayn his voice reaching that exasperated peak that Louis knew meant he was about to hang up.

“As usual you have been no help at all,” says Louis. 

“Night,” Zayn before he hangs up leaving Louis alone again in Niall’s bed. Their bed. 

Louis thinks about it. He thinks about all the conversations they’ve had, about the fact that he moved into Niall’s house and Niall was just totally cool with it. No problem. And he thinks there’s a chance, maybe, that Niall might be okay with them being more than just sex. 

It’s all so fucking silly. The whole thing. Louis is fucking sick of it. He calls Zayn back. 

“Louis I will kill you,” says Zayn. 

“I should talk to Niall yeah?” Louis asks. 

“Remember when you weren’t talking to me. I really enjoyed that.”  

“If you don’t want to talk to me stop answering your phone,” says Louis like he does every time Zayn complains about him calling in the middle of the night.  

“I’m the idiot,” says Zayn. 

“Yes you are now back to me. What if, and this is ridiculous obviously, but what if he doesn’t want to date me?” 

“You live together Louis,” Zayn replies through a yawn.

“So you think he likes me?” asks Louis and fuck when did he start sounding like one of his sisters talking about their school crushes. 

“Yes,” says Zayn. “I think he likes you.”

“It’s not that easy you know,” says Louis smaller, he almost doesn’t want Zayn to hear. 

“Yeah it also kind of is,” is all he says before hanging up. 

And yeah maybe it is that easy.

 

**_Niall_ **

 

Louis bursts through the door before it’s even fully open, a whirlwind of energy, slamming his bag onto the floor angrily. Niall’s left starring at an empty hallway, he can almost see the silhouette of where Louis had been standing. He turns slowly, unsure whether what he’s seeing is real or a hallucination. 

“I’m not playing golf,” Louis says like a threat. He sounds like he’s at the end of an argument Niall completely miss out on being part of. 

Niall hasn’t heard from him in a week. He doesn’t know why he’s here. In his hotel room. Talking about golf. He’d imagined what he’s say to Louis when he say him next, imagined what Louis might say to him and none of it had anything to do with golf. 

“It takes forever and it’s boring and I want no fucking part in it okay?” continues Louis his words losing a little bit of their fervour. 

Niall doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t know what to say. He’s still working through the fact that Louis is in his hotel room like a mirage he dreamed to life. 

“What?” Niall asks because he knows Louis is speaking words, and he understands the words he was saying in theory, but Niall has no fucking clue what Louis is going on about.

“Fine,” Louis says throwing his hands up in the air as though giving into a request Niall didn’t make. “Once a year. Maybe. If it’s important. That’s my final offer.” 

Louis looks breathless, or breath-full. Niall’s not sure what the right word is. He looks like he’s reaching desperately for each breath. Like he’s run a marathon. Niall’s seen his chest heaving like this before, in very different contexts, but there’s nothing familiar about the look in his eyes. He looks scared, Niall gasps out loud at the realisation. 

“I didn’t ask ya to play golf,” he says eventually. 

“Not yet no,” Louis says, his voice is beginning to shake a little. “But if we’re together it’s bound to come up yeah. Don’t want you getting any expectations about me changing or something.”

Too many emotions wash over Niall in a wave and he feels like he’s drowning. He’s reaching desperately through the foam trying to grab hold of something anything he can understand. Louis is rolling on his feet back and forward his hands rubbing together frantically like he’s trying to remove a stain that isn’t there. Niall has to say something, he needs to say something but he seems to have forgotten he ever knew how to speak. 

“I know you hate golf,” he is what he eventually settles on saying his whole body cringing as he says it. 

“Yeah okay yeah,” says Louis. He looks slightly less worried, which Niall thinks is strange because he hasn’t actually answer the burning question yet. 

“I umm-“ Niall begins before being cut off. 

“Look can we close the door before we do this,” says Louis reminding Niall that he’d left the door exactly as it was when Louis burst through it.  

Niall turns slowly towards the door. He doesn’t really want to take his eyes from Louis, almost afraid he’ll disappear the moment he turns away. It feels too good to be true. 

“It’s umm not a shame thing,” continues Louis as Niall closes the door. “I know we’re going to have ta talk about the whole telling people stuff and I umm want to. I do. But uh maybe not right now yeah?” 

Closing the door clears Niall’s mind a little, the fact that it’s suddenly just them in a hotel room again. Like it was the first time. Like it was so many times after that. He can see through the words Louis is saying and he understands what he’s implying. He’s not stupid. He wants to shout and scream and jump on the man in front of him like he’s a trampoline but Niall’s also very aware that Louis hasn’t actually asked him anything. He’s implied and assumed and he’s staring at him with those giant blue eyes that always make him look like he’s asking for the world but he hasn’t said the words. 

Then again, thinks Niall looking up to see Louis standing there wearing clothes but completely bare, talking about them like they have a future, talking about Niall like he is Louis future. Fuck it, thinks Niall, moving purposefully towards Louis cupping hands around his cheeks and pulling him into a kiss. They were never any good at talking about anything that matters anyway. 

The kiss less passionate than Niall imagined it would be, considering the force he felt moving forward, and it takes a moment for Louis to catch on to what’s happening but it’s also kind of perfect. Almost the moment Louis starts kissing him he has to stop because they’re both smiling so much that their teeth keep clinking together. It’s actually a terrible kiss but Niall thinks it’s probably his favourite of all time.

They’re still barely a breath away from each other when Louis says “so I like you.” 

“I got that,” Niall replies wrapping his arms around Louis’ waist. “You hate golf but you love me.”  


“Hey. I did not say love,” Louis says his face forming that little indignant pout he gets when he’s not getting exactly his way. “I said like. I meant like like but it’s still like.” 

“You said you’d play golf with me mate that’s love,” Niall says because he loves that pout and he wants to keep it there as long as possible. 

“I said once a year. Maybe… Okay I suppose I do love you. No need to be so smug about it.” 

“Nah think I get to be a little smug,” Niall says leaning in to kiss Louis again. 

They kiss once, before Louis pulls back with a sigh and finally says what Niall guesses he came all the way to his hotel room to say.  

“We should date,” says Louis and Niall can’t the laughter the bursts form him. 

“Louis,” he says though the hysterics. “We fucking live together.”

Louis tries desperately to hold onto his pout but it’s not long before he’s laughing along with Niall.  

“I guess I kinda missed the bit where we dated,” says Louis.  

“You’re lucky I love you,” says Niall kissing the blush that appears on Louis cheeks at his words. 

They’ve got things to talk about, there’s stuff they’ve got to work through. But as they laugh against each others lips in that hotel room Niall thinks they’re going to be okay. Maybe. One day. As long as Louis learns how to pick his fucking towel up off the bathroom floor. 


End file.
